Turok: Dinosaur Hunter [N64 – Proto / Beta]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter [N64 – Proto / Beta]

Published in 1997, Turok has been one of the first Ultra 64 titles to be developed for the console. The game is based on the homonymous comic series, about a native american and his fights between evil cyborgs and dinosaurs. Thanks to its famous fog effect, which covered almost every part of the immense game levels, the game became an icon of the “fog problem” but it surely marked the hearts of many Nintendo 64 owners for its fun gameplay.

Proto / beta:

Final Version:

Before the release, the game has been shown in magazines with some pics taken from the early prototype. One of the images show a very raw 3D model of a T-REX: this enemy should be the “alpha” version of Thunder, a genetically modified dinosaur, which later has been used as a boss. The proto differs from the final version by the absence of the metallic parts covering the head and the foot of the dinosaur. Also, the polygonal model was less detailed. At any rate is difficult to note any other details, due to the blurryness of the image. The prototype colors are less shiny and “realistic” than the final version. It’s interesting to note how the fog effect was allready present: this makes us to wonder if Acclaim really intended to use that effect in the game and not just to cover eventual pop-up problems.

Surely the images in the gallery below represent an early beta stage of development, in wich they were still creating the 3D models and the scenario with not much gameplay finished. Do you know if some of these models were not in the final game? Acclaim begun to work on Turok in 1995, initially thinking to make a third person shooter, but later they chosed a first person view, in order to make it more involving.

Thanks to Linkx111 for the contribution!

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Videos:

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I'm an Italian gamer with not enough free time to play as much as i'd like to and sadly not enough time to write about cancelled and beta games. Founder of Unseen64 in 2001, i'd like to sleep more than 5 hours a day, but i have to pay the bills. I'm currently working for various italian & international websites for a better User Experience & Search Engine Optimization, you can add me on Twitter, Last FM or contact me by email.

6 thoughts on “Turok: Dinosaur Hunter [N64 – Proto / Beta]”

Published in 1997, Turok has been one of the first Ultra 64 project games. The game is based on the homonymous comic, which speaks of an american native indian and his fights between evil cyborgs and gargantuan dinosaurs.

Thanks to his famous fog effect, which covered almost every part of the immense game levels, the game became very famous and surely marked the hearts of the first Nintendo 64 owners.

Before his launch, the game has been presented with some pics taken from the prototype. The image shows a very raw model of a T-REX; This enemy should be the Beta version of Thunder, a genetically modified dinosaur, which later has been used as a game boss. The proto version differs from the final version by the absence of the metallic parts covering the head and the foot of the dinosaur; also, the polygonal model was less complex. At any rate is difficult to note any other detail, due of the blurryness of the image. The prototype colors are less shiny and “realistic” than the final version. It’s interesting to note how the fog effect was allready present, this makes us think how acclaim really intended to put that effect in the game and not just to cover eventual Pop-up effects.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any more information about the origin of that image, and we r investigating to find out more about it. Surely the image of th T-REX (and the other one under this article) represent an early stage of the game development, considering the other beta image seems to come from a much more evoluted version of the game.

Acclaim begun to work on Turok in 1995, initially thinking ideas for a third person Shoot em Up, but instead deciding next to use a first person view, in order to make it more involving.

I remember seeing pictures from Nintendo Magazine System before this was released. They were from the tree-city level, and you could see the head and neck of a brachiosaur in the background. Shame it didn’t make it into the final game, as it looked pretty awesome.

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